Trial to begin Monday in New Eagle child abuse case

A jury trial is set to begin Monday in Washington County Court for a New Eagle mother accused of imprisoning and starving her 6-year-old fraternal twins in their home last year.

Judge Katherine B. Emery said the trial for Roxanne N. Taylor, 26, of 353 Seventh Ave., will get under way less than two weeks after the children’s father, Edward J. Buckholz, 34, pleaded guilty in the case.

Monongahela police were called to the couple’s residence March 28, 2012, after a neighbor found their emaciated son walking on a road on a chilly morning wearing little clothing. The man wrapped the child in a blanket, took him home and called authorities.

Police said they found a bug- and feces-littered house and the twins’ bedroom door locked from the outside after Taylor answered her door that morning and let them in. Police said they knocked and kicked on the door for a half-hour before Taylor appeared, later saying she kept the children’s door locked because she was a heavy sleeper and they tended to wander.

The boy, who had bruises on his body and weighed just 30 pounds, escaped that morning by crawling out a window. Neither child had been enrolled in school.

The case later prompted Washington County Judge John DiSalle to criticize the state Department of Public Welfare, saying he was “shocked and flabbergasted” it had given Washington County Children and Youth Services a positive evaluation because it had opened and closed the Buckholz and Taylor case several times.

Taylor is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of children. She remains in the Washington County jail on $100,000 bond.

Her attorney, Andrew Glasgow, did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Buckholz also is jailed on $100,000 bond, facing a 2-to-4-year prison sentence. He faced the same charges, but only entered a guilty plea to two counts of felony aggravated assault June 26 before Emery. The county’s adult probation office has been ordered to conduct a presentence investigation of Buckholz before Emery hands down his sentence at 1 p.m. Sept. 20.